Google wants to use wireless to bring gigabit Wi-Fi to more fiber customers

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Google Fiber has won accolades across the country for delivering gigabit speeds at prices that leave companies like Comcast grinding their teeth in fury as profit margins erode out from under them. One problem that Google and its rivals both face, however, is the expense of running fiber to each individual home. During Alphabet’s (Google’s parent company) annual shareholder meeting, CEO Eric Schmidt said that point-to-point connections can now be deployed via wireless at comparable speed to wired infrastructure, while being “cheaper than digging up your garden.”

Google has previously applied to the FCC for permission to test millimeter-wave wireless networking devices, which typically operate in the 60GHz band. The 802.11ad wireless networking standard also supports 60GHz frequencies, and it’s not a stretch to think that Google might want to build a network using that standard, especially since its already available in routers you can buy today.

It’s not clear, however, if 60GHz spectrum can be easily adapted to real-world conditions. The 60GHz spectrum is largely unlicensed and free from interference, but it’s also severely affected by attenuation from a number of sources. Part of the reason this has such an impact on 60GHz signals is because they resonate with the O2 molecule –otherwise known as “The stuff we breathe” and “21% of the atmosphere by volume.”

Graph by Wikipedia

60GHz signals are also subject to attenuation from rain, foliage, walls, and the human body. There are upsides to this situation, since it would allow for spectrum re-use over a relatively short area, but it’s difficult to see anyone building a cost-effective Wi-Fi network using 60GHz technology. The 802.11ad routers you can buy today use 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 60GHz bands precisely so that the router can switch to 2.4GHz or 5GHz if you walk out of the room. 60GHz Wi-Fi also requires line-of-site transmission, which could mean Google Fiber would need specialized hardware in consumer’s houses in order to ensure a strong signal.

There are ways to deal with some of these problems, such as using a higher-power transmitter, or installing backup equipment in the 5GHz or 2.4GHz bands that would kick in if the 60GHz signal became too weak and began to fail. The problem in these cases is that people would rapidly sour on the idea of Google Fiber if it turned out they weren’t getting the speeds they thought they paid for. Building more transmitters closer to their customers would also help the situation, but at a higher cost.

Research into the 60GHz band is still ongoing, but some of the problems facing it are intrinsic to the frequency and its characteristics. Better technology isn’t going to solve the line-of-sight problem or the rain fade issue.

Tagged In

I don’t like using wi-fi for my main connection.. And I don’t want 60Ghz going through my body constantly.. Who cares if you have to dig up my garden; I will have gigabit internet afterwards and will be so busy downloading/uploading stuff that I will never attend to my garden again..

random_name

With speeds that can be achieved with Fiber, I would think you would have more time to attend to the garden. There’s only so much porn you know.

Baconmon

Unfortunately I am living with my fat mother right now, and for some reason she loves paying out the ass for internet speed that is from 1990.. (It is stupid at&t DSL).. The download maxes out at like 125 KB/s.. o_o It takes centuries to download stuff, especially 1080p stuff.. We have a cable company in this town that offers actual real internet speeds, but my mother refuses to switch to them because she owes them a couple hundred dollars from many years ago and doesn’t want to spend money on that, so instead she has been using this masochistically slow internet for YEARS.. It drives me crazy, have to wait for pictures to load, youtube videos to load, can’t download any 1080p movies with out waiting hours or days..

So yeah I have plenty of time to attend to garden right now (if I actually did that kind of thing), but if I had actual decent internet, I would be watching lot more movies and shows all the time..

Doon1

You write like an adult so I’m going to assume you are one. That being said. You could move out of your mommy’s house and get your own high speed internet service. Just a thought…

Baconmon

My mommy’s house??.. You write kind of like a child, so I am going to assume that you are one (at least mentally).. You could refrain from typing any thing at all on the internet until you are of a more mature age, to prevent you from regretting your posts later in your life when you look back on them.. Just a thought, nothing more..

HedgeThis

He does have a point though. You are the one that spilled your personal situation and put your mother in a derogatory frame (“fat mother”) that set the tone for such a response. But the question still begs, why not get the cable modem in your own name? I do feel your pain though; I remember DSL compared to the 200 Mbps broadband I get now. Google fiber can’t come fast enough, I would never look back.

Jeff Vahrenkamp

Good news is with 60ghz the signal would be beam formed and received by a dish or antennae some where out of the way like your roof, so no getting blasted by 60kHz radiation

SickoPsycho

Why are you so concerned with the 60Ghz band going “through” your body? The problem, actually, is that the band DOES NOT penetrate your body, where as the 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz have much better penetration. These bands are rolling around everywhere already so I feel like it’s a little silly to worry about the 60. P.S. If you live with your mother, and are complaining about the internet SHE is paying for, why don’t you set up service of your own, with your own money? Either that of GTFO. Just saying…

Baconmon

Maybe I should have said “absored by my body” instead.. Radiation with higher frequency does more damage than stuff with lower waves.. That is why microwaves (even though they still cause damage) are less harmful than things like x-rays and gamma-rays..

SickoPsycho

I still believe it is a bunch of hogwash due to the fact that there is no documented proof that radio waves of this sort cause any damage whatsoever. However I respect your opinion and appreciate your point.

Lor

Know what Google dig up the garden.

Eric

If it were affordable like $30/month, I’d take Google’s wireless network with performance drops based on the wireless network environment over the overpriced, parasitic Comcast.

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